Late February 2010: The Z/Yen Team took some welcome time out after work at a local City pool hall and bar. Jez “Stats” Horne cunningly divided the team into well-matched pairs for a round robin challenge. As an experienced pool shark and “PropheZy stato”, Jez had also predicted that pool performance over the evening would comply with a bell-curve pattern, measuring Pool Performance on the “Y” axis and Drinking Time on the “X” axis. Jez was spot on with that prediction.

However, the tournament was won, against all the odds, by Mark “The Hustler” Yeandle and Ian “Cue Laughter” Harris. Their success seemed to hinge on a fair smattering of luck (two of their four victories came through opposition players fouling what would have been their own winning shot). Yeandle maintains that his own steady pool skills ultimately won the day. Harris, however, insists that he cleverly induced the opposition errors, both of which emanated from the Kiwi contingent, by making such original wind-up cracks as “by all means go up to the baaaa and sheepishly ask for another drink” and “all this 1980’s music must be making you feel at home”. Minnesota Fats himself would have been impressed by this hustle had he witnessed it. More importantly, though, a great deal of fun was had by all throughout the evening.